Idea of cryptocurrencies vs. reality

The idea was beautiful. Uplifting. It had that power, which after recent crisis, could gather thousands of people. And it did. Idealists. Dreamers. But often realists as well, who knew, that if it’s possible to artistically mess everything up (and humans can do those things exceptionally well), it must be possible to fix it all too. Change it. Break it and start from the scratch.

But let’s get back to the beginnings.

Cryptocurrency idea was to make population independent from bankers, who have shown in 2008 how they can easily, quickly and painfully turn our financial system to dust and take people’s life savings away. Cryptocurrencies were meant to protect us from it. Create a currency, that would be totally independent from the rich of this world. Currency which you’d be unable to just print whenever you feel like it. Currency that would not depend on caprice of its creator. Currency that could be spent in shops and companies, as well as be used for transactions between people.

Without those giants, who can make few big decisions, shaking the bases of financial world. And at the start, the idea was implemented beautifully. Many people still believe that this idea has power and will achieve what ‘regular human being’ could only dream of before.

Unfortunately, nowadays: dominance, money, greed and sex, are stood behind everything we know. And they are successfully destroying the idea of cryptocurrency. It does not matter how high-minded and wonderful it is.

It seems somewhat similar to solving world hunger and dreams about peace on our planet.

Most of us wish that there was no hungry people in the world, and most of us wish that there was peace between everyone. Do you remember those famous wishes of candidates for Miss World? ‘I want peace all around the world’, ‘I am going to fight for the peace on our planet’. Blah blah blah… Great idea. Beautiful aim, that’s awaited by pretty much everyone. But… those who earn on hunger and war, want to carry on making money. And of course, the may say: ‘Yes, we will feed all hungry children, yes, yes, we want peace as well’ – but the truth is, that they would not even consider following that idea. They want dominance. They want power. They want money. That’s why we have not fed all hungry people, and the world is still as it is if it comes to peace. Because solving it, is not profitable for the rich.

It is similar with cryptocurrency. It does not matter how great and honest the idea is – the ‘people in power’ will try to fight it. And profit on it at the same time. It all depends on what will give them the highest gains. Cryptocurrency, or its ‘destruction’. And that’s not something clear or obvious.
We can dream – we have a right to. But the decisions will still be made by the biggest hands, reaching for money.

Recently, I had some ‘laughing through tears’ time, reading news, where people were greatly astonished by the info, that Belarus is going to make cryptocurrency tax free and that it will soon become crypto paradise. Paradise for cryptocurrency and ICO projects.

In comments, people were showing their excitement, admiring that wise ruler or Belarus is able to see the potential in crypto and he gives it green light. That he is a modern thinking man, not like the rest of Europe, which only worries about the money for thieving bankers, etc. etc.

Ojj… people, come on. Do you really think that? Do you honestly believe that Lukaszenko is this one super wise and good overlord, who would support crypto market and all these things? Are you for real? This man is able to see where he can earn money and WHAT HE CAN HIDE thanks to cryptocurrency. It is not a big secret. Himself and his amazing bunch. And that is it: there is money in it, and it would make money laundering so much easier, comparing to times of dollar or other fiats. Do you know where this money would come from? Do you have any idea how the situation with human rights look in Belarus? Where is the opposition? What happens with people who say a word too much? I don’t think you do, so we can just carry on to get excited with Belarus cryptocurrency heaven. Yeah…

But just maybe ask yourself – what sort of business is there for him? And would it really be good for cryptocurrency and its development? When ‘the rest of the world’ sees what sort of business is A. L. doing in Belarus, would they look at crypto with a friendly eye? Or maybe not?

Idea. Is it anywhere close to that beautiful cryptocurrency idea we were talking about before?

Well… no it’s not. It’s, AS USUAL, all about money.

Who wants money as well?:

Speculators, who make money both when crypto price goes up and down, so they can make the most of this business sector.

Big Fish – so very powerful investors with substantial capital. One decision to buy or sell, might result in increase or a drop of the price by some crazy amounts.

You. And that’s why you are buying into crypto (if you do) and for exactly the same reason you sell it when it increases by 50%. There is not that many people in crypto who tend to hold it for very long, or buy some crypto every month, despite its price.

But of course, the idea of ‘independence from banking cartels’ is used by every second person. And the same person would run to an ATM to withdraw those ‘dirty dollars, which are not backed by gold’, instead of holding it in those praised cryptocurrencies.

Are you really such an idealist, if at the end of the day you’re choosing USD, EUR or GBP, and all you do is calculate crypto to fiat?
Am I the only one who’s able to notice the difference there?

And how did you react to a news few weeks ago, that all Visa credit cards which used to allow you to withdraw BTC from ATM got blocked? If you are the idealist we were talking about earlier you should not have had that card at the first place, not even mentioning all the distress you’ve expressed online over it. 😉

Ideals…

The number 1 point of cryptocurrencies is (if it comes to the idea we’re discussing) that they are decentralized, what means that they DO NOT HAVE a single owner, who can decide about the price and the faith of coins.

So let’s look at the chart below:

You can see it live on https://blockchain.info/pl/pools

We can clearly see that most of the mining power belongs to few mines.

50% of the entire ‘cake’ belongs to 3 companies.75% belongs to 5 of them.

Does it still look so decentralized to you?

I’m sure you remember recent situation when one (or two) mines moved all their mining power, only for one night, from BTC to Bitcoin Cash. Can you recall what has happened then? The price of BTC on the markets dropped down almost immediately, and the price of Bitcoin Cash went flying up like crazy. One decision. One night. Few mines. And you’re telling me… that nobody can manipulate its price, and speculate depending on their own actions. Let me think about that…

Let’s not forget about the fees that we’re required to pay for BTC transfers. Those fees go to miners. So looking just at the chart above, just imagine how much additional funds they get.

According to the idea, Bitcoin was meant to be super cheap and super convenient during transactions. And maybe it was… at the start, when we were so amazed that the fee equaled only few cents.

It sounds unreal when you look at it now – BTC block is to small for it to be cheap. It is cheaper to transfer LTC, Dash, or other – more advanced technologically cryptocurrencies, which blocks are much bigger, but it’s not like that with ‘the king’.
Some time ago, I had to pay 20 USD (some people paid much more) for a transfer. And that is not a small amount for a regular person. Not only Bitcoin becomes luxury but also paying with it.

Ok, let’s go even further: if it comes to Bitcoin anonymity, so giving more freedom to people on what they want to do with their funds. We are complaining that banks, companies, loan issuers, governments and media are looking into our wallets and our spending. Cryptocurrencies were meant to solve that problem and give us anonymity. Most crypto beginners believe that Bitcoin is an anonymous currency, separated from governments. Yup, right…

I’d like to remind you that Bitcoin has open source code, which means that EVERYONE who knows your wallet address can look it up and check:
a) how much money you currently hold on your account
b) to what address you have sent your funds and from what address you received it at the first place.

And that is just a step away (for specialist or other person who knows this subject) to find out what address belongs to a store, which one belongs to other user, or a company that delivers pizza. All that needs doing then, is to look up the data from the website of pizza company to find out your home address and name – and then check whether your are paying taxes for BTC on your wallet.

So where is this idealistic anonymity then? And what about ‘amazing, 100% open source code’ 😉

Of course, you may say that – what officials would bother to check each individual BTC address, playing a spy? Well… maybe they wouldn’t check each address, but large amounts may catch their eye, may they not? And if they check big ones, why not carry on and have a closer look at small ones too? Having 19% in taxes from 200 000 accounts of various people, who don’t expect authorities to find out… 😉 While they’re keep storing it all on one address (because why would they change it). And even post screens of their wallet with full address on it. Doors are open, welcome in … 😉

I’m keep looking at idea of cryptocurrency with visible passion. It’s something that makes me feel like: ‘If it could only work out…!’
Something that drives me forward.